


won't you be my cherry?

by Zoeatthedisco



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-13 02:27:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20574926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoeatthedisco/pseuds/Zoeatthedisco
Summary: based off the song Cherry by Rina Sawayama for the carry on mini bang!Baz sees a boy on the subway who changes his life, but not that it means anything, he'll never see that boy again, right?





	won't you be my cherry?

The tube wasn’t exactly what Baz would describe as the most memorable part of his day, it was almost exactly the same every day, vaguely differing faces, always a little too crowded. Armed with nothing but headphones and an intimidating vibe, Baz took his ride to work with little more than meer disinterest. Today was no different, quiet in his headphones (he never played music, just in case) held onto this railing and prepared for the ride, or so, that's what Baz expected it to be.  
When the announcements declared Baz’s stop, something, or rather someone caught his eye. It wasn’t common, Baz often kept his head low, with little regard for those anyone around him, but this boy, something about him made Baz’s body shiver. Perhaps it was starting with the fact this boy seemed to be looking at him too. No one ever noticed Baz, that was the point, he made himself to call as little attention as possible, but this boy, in all his blue-eyed gorgeousness, was looking at Baz! The boy grinned and Baz forced himself to look away, besides, it was his time to get off anyways right?  
But something changed in Baz, this boy, it shook him to his core, but Baz shook it off. He had a job to get to, he doubted he would ever see this boy again, no matter how much he wished he would again. He stepped off the platform, there was a place to go, the bookstore wouldn’t wait, Dev and Niall wouldn’t either.  
“Baz!” Niall smiled and pushed himself off the sidewalk next to the bookstore “took you long enough, unlock the door already won’t ya?”  
“Oh push off, you weren't gonna die here alone for three minutes.”  
“I well could have!”  
“Tosser,” The door unlocks with a soft click and Baz breaths in the scent of old and new books alike.  
“What took you so long anyways?” Niall pushes past Baz and jumps over the counter to clock himself in.  
“I told you to stop doing that you know.”  
Niall looks up and smiles “Fat chance, why would I walk around from the back when I can just vault over this low enough counter?”  
“Who raised you again?”  
“The wolves!”  
Baz shook his head and continued walking to the back, pushing the door open and going to start his day.

It was predictable, not many customers came in everyday, what with the new ebooks and digital libraries, it was rare new customers came in looking for a classic. Not that Baz hasn’t tried to keep up, installing computers in the store, having Dev update the old dated cafe into a newer more trendy version, where he made specialty coffees and fresh baked goods, that what most people came in for anyways, sometimes they picked up a book with their expressos and blueberry muffins, but it was rare they ever came up to buy the book.

“But sir! I can buy this same book online for much cheaper!”

Then came the arguments, because Baz ran a tiny specialty bookstore, people thought they were entitled to try and get better prices or a discount, but Baz never let up.

“And I’m sure you could find many other things online while you’re at it.”

The girl’s mouth gave away all her emotions, she was shocked a man such as Baz would refuse her what she wants, Baz knew far too many girls like her, she was worse than others though. Clearly she's been coddled in life, given a high paying job because her daddy is the C.E.O, her skin slightly tanned from what was surely a weekend in Cabo, and a pink Chanel suit because she saw Legally Blonde once and decided Elle Woods was her fashion icon. Baz shook his head at the thought, Elle Woods would be far from proud of this girl, if she wanted to go to Harvard, she would have been bribed in.

“But I!” The girl twisted her mouth into a smile and leaned over the counter, “Well, surely you understand how much I want this book now, I’m sure with a discount I could finish this faster and we could discuss this book over some of your amazing coffee.”

Another tactic plenty have tried on him, but Baz never budged, so he sighed, scanned the girl's book, clicked on randomly nothing, and hit enter. He looked back and her sly smile told him she thought she won, Baz looked her right in the eyes and told her the same price he had from the start.

“That’ll be £20.25” With the same retail smile and fake cheer in his voice.

Her face fell and grew upset, “Whatever!” She pushed the book across the counter and stormed out.

Baz let out a sigh and moved the book to the counter behind him, Niall can do his job and put it back later. 

*Ding!* the bell above the door rang, Baz closed his eyes for a second, then faced the door.

“Hello welcome to-”

“ So tell me Bazza,” A familiar voice commanded the room. “What’s made Pretty in Pink all narky?”

“Oh Pen,” Baz smiled and let down his customer façade, “Must people really think they can flirt their way into a deal?” 

Baz could always rely on Penny to come in after something stressful, he never even had to call her, it was like a 6th sense for her. She always came in the same way, fluffy purple curly hair pushed back with a simple headband, the local private university uniform, a textbook in hand and a satchel stuffed with three more and a notebook. 

“Did she really now? Show me the book.”

“The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.”

“Oh? I didn’t expect her to be a Wilde fan.”

“She isn’t, simply wanted to see if she could get something free off her flirting.”

Penny frowned, “Hey! Who said that was it?”

“She couldn’t even pronounce Wilde.”

Penny laughed, it calmed Baz down, Penny was one of the few people in his life he enjoyed being around, he was sure if she was a classmate, their competitive need to be right, would drive them insane. But that was just it, Penny wasn’t a classmate, one of his workers, a friend his dad set up for him, she was just Penny.

“Anyways anyways, Baz.” She pushed her hair behind her ears then clasped her hands together, rings clinking together. “I have something to ask you.”

“What could such a knowledgeable woman as yourself want from me?” 

“Oh trust me, I don’t need your knowledge,” she teased while Dev set a coffee cup next to her, she always got the same thing, and she always paid. “It’s your store.”

“My store?” Baz smiled “I don’t think my father would let me sign the papers.”

“Very funny Baz, no! I don’t wanna own it, I wanna throw a study party.”

Baz cringed at the word party, he wasn’t fond of them at all, but it was Penny, and it was studying, it’d be fine right?

“Please Baz?”

He sighed, “How long and what would the set up be?”

She jumped up, even though Baz hadn’t said yes exactly, she knew him enough to know it might have well been. 

“Simple! Me and five other of my classmates stay in your store in the cafe for a few hours, with unlimited access to your books, we bring some food but also buy from Dev from drinks and freshly baked pastries, and study from our final!”

“When?”

Penny paused and gave a strained smile “Tommorrooowwww?”

“Pen!” Baz put his head in his hands, basically renting out his store for a few hours? With so little prep?

“We’ll be good! I promise! And we’ll set up the tables and put them back!”

“Pen you know how heavy those tables are.”

“Yeah but,,,” Pen pulled out her phone, found something and turned it to Baz. “Look at us! I think we can all do it!”

Baz shot straight up, one of those boys, from the picture, no, it couldn’t be right?

“Baz?” Penny started to put down the phone, but Baz grabbed it from her and zoomed in on the guy.

It was, the guy from the subway, he would be here, tomorrow, could he?

“Baz!” 

He looked up and showed the zoomed-in photo to Penny.

“Simon? What about him?”

Simon, the boy on the subways name was Simon.

“Baz, you’re freaking me out”

“I saw him today, on the subway, he was, checking me out.”

“Simon? I’m sorry, I’ll tell him not to-”

“No, let him come, you guys can come.”

Penny smiled, Baz knew he was going to regret this, letting Penny know he has a crush, having that crush come over to his store, but he hoped in the end this gamble would be worth it.

“Dev!” Penny yelled for him to come out from his bakery hiding spot (he’s scared of Pen, but Dev refused to let her know that).

“Uh, yeah Penny?” he poked his head over the counter.

“Get ready to make a lot of ‘won’t you be my cherry’ scones tomorrow!”

“Why?” Both Baz and Dev asked.

“Because!” Penny grabbed the hand Baz wasn’t still holding her phone in. “Somebody’s got a boy to impress tomorrow!”


End file.
